


Horses and Mornings

by a123



Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: AU, Annlett, F/M, Horses, Scotland, fluff and a bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 21:19:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11170269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a123/pseuds/a123
Summary: Every morning, Edmund wakes up to tend to the horses, and Anna misses him.





	Horses and Mornings

Anna and Edmund moved to Scotland and were married, just how they wanted. They bought a small house with a lot of land, and most importantly, they were happy. No more secrets, no more deception, just two happily married people living happily ever after.

  
They were able to purchase a couple of horses, and they lived in a stable built by Edmund himself. He felt that no one knew how to handle the gentle creatures like he could, so he was the one who maintained and cared for them.

  
Maintenance of horses, however, took discipline, and this involved getting up with the sun.

  
Edmund woke up just as the sun was peering over the hills, as he did every morning. He yawned, and looked over at his wife, curled up and sleeping soundly. He took her in and he cherished everything from the way she breathes to the little hairs that frame her face. _Like a celestial goddess_ , he thinks. He sighed and looked out the window and tried to find a shred of motivation to leave the warmth of his bed and his wife. Yes, he loves his horses and loves caring for them, but he also misses these quieter moments in the morning.

  
_No sense in dawdling when there is work to be done_ , he chastises himself, and goes to carefully extract himself from the bed without waking Anna. He goes to move his arm and realizes that Anna has wrapped both of hers around it. When he goes to gently tug it free, her grip tightens and Edmund nearly cries.

  
_Today_ , he thinks determinedly. _Today I will make it back before she leaves this bed_.

  
He never does, because caring for horses is hard work, and Anna is always awake and dressed by the time he returns to the house; ready to greet him with a kiss and a cup of tea.

  
What Edmund doesn’t know, is why Anna is always awake when he returns from the stables. Just as Edmund has his morning routine, so does Anna.

  
Anna wakes up with a start and frantically grabs out next to her, and panics when she can’t find her husband. Then she hears him shuffling around outside in the stables and she relaxes a little. _He is safe, he is with his horses_ , she tells herself, trying to calm her pounding heart.

  
Too many mornings she has woken up like this, always thinking the worst. Too many mornings she thinks that Edmund has been taken away from her again, or that Abe has found them and managed to kill him after all.

  
_This had gone on long enough_ , Anna thinks. She misses waking up with her husband, and she is going to do something about it.

 

* * *

  
The next morning, Edmund wakes up slowly. The sun is just peeking up over the hills, and their bedroom is just barely lit. Anna lifts her head from his chest, beaming at his half open eyes and scruffy hair standing up at all ends. “Good morning my love,” she says.

  
“Good morning,” he says, surprised to see that she was awake as well. He brought up one of her hands from his chest and kissed it lightly. “Duty calls” he jokes, preparing to leave the comfort of his wife and bed to do his morning rounds of caring for their horses.

  
“I’ve already done it.”

  
“You what?” he asks, confused.

  
“I already fed, watered and cleaned the horses, so you can just stay right where you are, Major,” she says with pride like she’s pulled a clever joke on him.

  
“You woke up before me?” Anna, that’s my…you… My morning routine to get me up and ready to face the day…” he stammered, trying to catch up to where his wife was.

  
Anna sighed and shifted so they were both sitting up. “I know dear. But I hate having to watch you leave every morning only to come back invigorated while I lay here wanting you and your warmth.” He blushes at that, but Anna continues on. “No, sometimes I just want us to wake up together and to see you sleepy and for you to hold me in the mornings while we greet the day together, slowly… So I thought maybe I could surprise you. I’m sorry if it messed you up today that you didn’t get to see them but you’re sleepy and sweet when you’ve just woken up, if I remember. And you often forget to keep your words as decent as you usually do, and I believe it is my right as your wife to witness this state as much as possible,” she finished with a grin.  
  
He looked flustered but pleased. He was still in the sleepy state that she had just been describing so he wrapped her in his arms and assured her that this was a perfectly wonderful surprise.

  
“I shall not mourn one morning lost of cleaning out the stalls. I should think you’d be glad to be rid of me” he jokes, but not without some sincerity. He knows he can be a bit much and didn’t want to smother her. He would spend every waking moment with her if he didn’t think she’d hate him in the end. He knows that she got the short end of the stick in their marriage; he gets to gaze into the face of love itself every day, and in return, she gets to look at his.

  
“Edmund” Anna said softly, and gently turned his head to meet her eyes. He looked so unsure of himself, and that nearly broke her heart. “I married you because I _love_ you, I’m here with you because I love _you_. I love you for who you are and all that you are” she said, repeating the words he once said to her, while bringing her hand to cup his cheek. “When you’re away from me, I’m scared that you won’t return, or that we’ve been found or something bad happened, and this time I won’t be able to get you back…” She didn’t want to think about that, so she just squeezed him tighter. Edmund mentally kicked himself when he realized that he was doing the opposite of what his wife wanted, and swore that he would wake up later every morning from now on.

  
He kissed the top of her head and she nestled into his chest. “I just want to be able to spend these moments with you. I am a little jealous that I have to fight with our horses for my husband’s attention in the morning.”

  
Edmund laughed at that. “Trust me, my love. There is no competition,” he said as he leaned down to kiss his beautiful wife.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!


End file.
